Check the clearance racks. They’re filled with products that in research everyone said they’d buy ... and then didn’t. 

Why? Because focus groups and surveys simply cannot predict how people will react to your product or ad campaign — in the real world.

Surveys shmurveys. To know how your product, ad or idea will work in the real world, you need an ingeniously conceived, scientifically sound test. The kind we specialize in at the RESPONSE Agency.

• When a large, well-known national brand acquired a smaller national brand, the question was whether to change the smaller brand’s name. We didn’t bother asking consumers what they might think of a name change. Instead, we let them show us. Consumers didn’t know they were part of a test, and they didn’t know anyone was watching. (Otherwise it wouldn’t have been a real-world test, now would it?) We were able to give our client solid, predictive information as to exactly what effect a name change would have on sales.

• A multi-state financial institution wanted to upgrade its best clients to a premium checking account. Which of three possible approaches was mostly likely to succeed? We conducted a real-world test and found out. Good thing. In the real world, the approach that people liked least when surveyed outsold the other two combined by 2-to-1. By relying on actual behavior instead of just words, the financial institution tripled results — without increasing the marketing budget by a dime. 

• Which brand of lingerie detergent would women most likely not just buy, but actually use once they brought it home? This one was tricky. It’s not the sort of thing you can simply walk up and ask, much less expect to get out of a focus group. On the other hand, it’s generally not a good idea to spy on women as they wash their underwear at home. We cooked up a laboratory test where women thought we were researching something else. Truly ingenious, if we do say so ourselves.

Before you bet big money, let us devise an ingenious, scientifically sound test. Bring us your thorniest problem. Prepare to be amazed by how we solve it. Contact us now by clicking here.